Product Description

The "Roof Construction Manual" with over 1800 plans and 220 photographs is a vital reference work on the construction of pitched roofs. It offers extensive and fundamental information on all common types of roofing, and provides practical details for their construction. The volume is divided according to the type of roof elements and the jointing techniques. thirteen kinds of roofs and the relevant materials including thatch, wood, slate, tile, concrete, fibrous cement, bitumen, glass, metal, membranes, and synthetic materials are documented. Also described in detail are essential topics such as ventilation, the vapour and wind seals, insulation and water drainage, and the topics of renovation and energy conservation are examined. As with all the Construction Manuals, built examples illustrate the theoretical details. Some 38 examples which include 11 classic buildings and 27 buildings from the last 5 years show the construction of roofs paying particular attention to important features such as the ridge, hip, eaves, roof valley, verge, and penetration. A compact presentation of the load-bearing structures and the physics necessary for roof construction in addition to the current norms and standards make this volume as indispensable standard work for all architects and engineers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #472882 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Language Notes
Text: German

Customer Reviews

Essential information for builders
I never would have guessed one could write a whole volume on pitched roofs, but, now that I've seen it, I see how specialized roof construction is. This being a European book, there's far more coverage of various types of roofs, with the asphalt shingles that are ubiquitous in the US being but one of many options. Even thatched roofs are covered. There's an extended section on structural requirements, and even a mention of historical methods, using hammer beams, for example. But it's the building science section that stands out. This is covered to some degree in all the books in the Construction Manual series, but the concepts of heat flow, moisture control, etc., are explained at great length here. Practical guidelines are given based on the European building codes, and construction details abound. The translation to British English (e.g. roof sarking) is well-done and the book design and paper quality are every bit as good as the excellent and highly technical content.

Please Note: Only pitched roof covered!
I love the Edition DETAIL's series of Construction Manuals. These books have taken some of the examples from their wonderful magazines series but is much more comprehensive. It covers the history of the materials, construction methods, material properties, example of projects built recently (within the past 10 yrs) and drawings of the enlarged details precisely and clearly labled. The price is a bit steep but I believe the book is well worth the price because you'll have a hard time finding books like these (concentrated on details) on the market (if you did please share the titles with us). One drawback on books like these is there's a danger the construction methods and details demonstrated in the book could become outdated as the years pass on. Another thing I would like to point out particular to the Roof Construction Manual is the book only covers pitched roof (otherwise I would have given it five stars).

Well worth the price
One in a series of indispensible DETAIL Construction Manuals, Roof Construction covers a broad range of roof types from modern built-up and tensile roofs to traditional shake and thatched roofs to green and solar roofs, with an excellent collection of detail drawings at 1:10 scale. The book is also packed with vital information regarding the history of roof types and fundamentals of roof construction, big and small. You can't go wrong in adding this book to your reference shelf.